Within the siding industry, and other similar sheeted-material processing industries, the processing of panels occurs in different stages and at different locations within a production facility. Processing oftentimes includes sanding, priming and coating the panel in preparation for its end use. In order to enhance storage efficiency during processing, as well as ease of distributing, the panels are commonly stored in stacks.
Because panel processing occurs in various stages and in different locations, the siding industry, and other similar sheeted-material processing industries have developed techniques for separating individual panels from a stack of panels and transporting the individual panel to different processing locations within a processing facility. One technique for separating and transporting panels is by vacuum suction and conveyor belts. This technique utilizes the suction produced from a vacuum to lift the panel from the stack and to hold the panel against a conveyor belt. Once the panel engages the conveyor belt, the conveyor belt transports the panel to a different processing location within the processing facility.
A common problem associated with existing conventional vacuum conveyor systems is those systems' inability to overcome the cohesive forces between a top panel and those panels directly beneath. As a result, conventional vacuum conveyors oftentimes are unable to lift a top panel from a stack of panels due to the magnitude of these cohesive forces. Also, cohesive forces commonly cause conventional vacuum conveyors to mistakenly lift two or more panels at once. This occurs when two or more panels remain attached to the top panel being lifted. The inability to separate the top panel from other panels results in processing inefficiencies including wasted panels, jamming other processing machines, and wasted manpower in monitoring the separation of panels. Likewise, the stuck panels create dangers within the processing facility. Because the stuck sheet panels are only attached to the top panel by cohesive forces, the stuck sheet panels are subject to fall at any given moment. Due to the heavy weights generally associated with panels, a falling panel poses grave threats to both human life and to other existing equipment within a processing facility. Also, the added weight of stuck panels to the vacuum conveyor often exceeds that weight which the vacuum suction force can maintain. As a result, all stuck panels may overcome the suction force and fall.
Another common problem associated with conventional vacuum conveyors is their slow rate of processing panels. Generally, conventional vacuum conveyors are only able to process 6–7 panels per minute.